Syllabus

Intellectual Scope

Overview Institute scholars will explore cultural continuity and change in the Pueblo world from about 2000 B.C. to the present. This educational journey will be distinguished by a commitment to creating a multicultural community of inquiry led by prominent scholars in the areas of archaeology, ethnohistory, oral history, and education. The institute will be based at the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center in southwestern Colorado and will feature two field trips to significant ancient and contemporary Pueblo villages.

We will spend several days each at Mesa Verde National Park and at historic Pueblo and Spanish colonial communities in northern New Mexico. Participants will gain an enhanced understanding of the cultural diversity that constitutes the Pueblo world—over both time and place—and they will examine how Pueblo culture has been shaped by interaction among these diverse groups.

Each day will begin with the group reflecting on and discussing the previous day’s activities and readings and how they mesh into an interpretive whole. Instructional methods used throughout the institute include inquiry activities, field experiences, primary research, lecture, discussion, readings, films, independent study, and visits to ancient and present-day Pueblo communities. Pueblo scholars will address traditional knowledge and world view as well as political, social, and educational issues relevant to contemporary Pueblo communities. Through visits to contemporary Pueblo villages, participants will gain some understanding of how contemporary Pueblo people view Euroamerican culture—perspectives that will translate well into the educators’ increasingly multicultural classrooms.

Pueblo History Institute scholars will learn about the world-altering challenges that confronted the Southwest’s ancestral Pueblo Indians beginning in A.D. 1300 with their departure from their traditional homeland in the Mesa Verde region of southwestern Colorado. The ancestral Pueblo departed their homeland, migrated into the northern Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico, and redefined themselves in the context of other Pueblo communities. Soon after, they were confronted by Spanish conquistadors, missionaries, and colonists intent on acquiring wealth, saving souls, and generally replacing the indigenous populations of New Mexico. Then, in 1680, an alliance of Puebloan villages under the leadership of Popé, a religious leader from Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo (formerly San Juan Pueblo), staged America’s first successful revolution against European colonial forces. Through field trips, lectures, readings, and discussion, program participants will explore these central questions:

How and why did Pueblo people leave their ancestral homeland at Mesa Verde?

What happened when Pueblo people arrived and settled in the northern Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico?

How did the arrival of the Spanish affect Pueblo options and responses to the challenges presented by their new homeland?

How did these early experiences contribute to the resilience of Pueblo culture today?

Many Ways of Knowing the Past Institute scholars will explore this little-known history by piecing together multiple lines of information gathered through archaeology, ethnohistory, and oral history. Interpretations of this information from the perspectives of both Pueblo scholars and Western scientists will be offered to allow institute participants to determine if and how the bodies of information are compatible. We will examine the differences in the data and interpretive strengths and limitations of the three disciplines (archaeology, ethnohistory, and oral history) used to reconstruct the Pueblo past. Where the interpretations do not reconcile, the differences offer opportunities to ask why.

The Relationship Between Pueblo History and Identity Pueblo people are resilient, and Pueblo culture is vibrant and diverse. Institute scholars will get acquainted with Pueblo people and culture through information provided by Pueblo scholars, as well as through visits to Pueblo communities. This interaction will offer scholars the opportunity to examine how Pueblo culture has created a level of resiliency that aided Pueblo people to overcome a history of immense challenges. We will also examine the question of how Pueblo history influences the construction of Pueblo Indian identity today. We explore the creation of modern Pueblo identity through the themes of migration, reintegration, colonization, revolution, and resiliency.

Schedule

Subject to Change

The morning sessions of the Institute will begin at 8:30 a.m. and end at 12:00 p.m. The afternoon sessions will run from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Evening sessions will take place from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Week One (June 26–30)—Setting the Stage: Method and Theory in Archaeology, Ethnohistory, and Oral History; the Origins of Ancestral Pueblo Culture; and Introduction to the Mesa Verde Region

Monday, June 26—Introduction: “How Do We Know About the Past?”

Morning: Institute introduction and discussion of core subject matter and ways to know about the past

Afternoon: Hands-on learning module “Windows into the Past” a lesson using archaeological replicas to determine a chronology of ancestral Puebloan culture

Evening: Presentation—“Introduction to the History and Contemporary Context of Mesa Verde National Park,” Dr. Mark Varien

Wednesday, July 12—Pueblo Identity in Pre- and Post-Colonial New Mexico II

Morning and Afternoon: Tour Bandelier National Monument

Evening: Independent exploration

Thursday, July 13—Pueblo Identity in Pre- and Post-Colonial New Mexico III

Morning: Tour of Santa Clara Pueblo

Afternoon: Return to Crow Canyon

Evening: Complete curriculum projects

Friday, July 14—Wrap-Up and Presentation of Curriculum Projects

Morning: Complete curriculum projects

Afternoon: Share curriculum projects

Evening: Closing dinner and reception

Project

The scholars will work in small groups with each other to focus on the central questions of the institute by common topical or grade-level interests. The groups will review various humanities topics and curriculum projects inspired by Pueblo culture and adapt a version appropriate to their classrooms. They will be encouraged to produce resource lists, broad curricular designs, and/or lesson plans that will be of greatest benefit to them in their classrooms.

Detailed Syllabus

A detailed syllabus will be provided to program participants as part of the welcome packet.

Evaluations

At the end of the project's residential period, scholars will be asked to submit online evaluations in which they review their work during the institute and assess its value to their personal and professional development.

About the Institute

Our Mission

The mission of the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center is to empower present and future generations by making the human past accessible and relevant through archaeological research, experiential education, and American Indian knowledge.